Matplotlib scatter plot legend

Here's an easier way of doing this (source: here):

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from numpy.random import rand


fig, ax = plt.subplots()
for color in ['red', 'green', 'blue']:
    n = 750
    x, y = rand(2, n)
    scale = 200.0 * rand(n)
    ax.scatter(x, y, c=color, s=scale, label=color,
               alpha=0.3, edgecolors='none')

ax.legend()
ax.grid(True)

plt.show()

And you'll get this:

Take a look at here for legend properties

2D scatter plot

Using the scatter method of the matplotlib.pyplot module should work (at least with matplotlib 1.2.1 with Python 2.7.5), as in the example code below. Also, if you are using scatter plots, use scatterpoints=1 rather than numpoints=1 in the legend call to have only one point for each legend entry.

In the code below I've used random values rather than plotting the same range over and over, making all the plots visible (i.e. not overlapping each other).

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from numpy.random import random

colors = ['b', 'c', 'y', 'm', 'r']

lo = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='x', color=colors[0])
ll = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='o', color=colors[0])
l  = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='o', color=colors[1])
a  = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='o', color=colors[2])
h  = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='o', color=colors[3])
hh = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='o', color=colors[4])
ho = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='x', color=colors[4])

plt.legend((lo, ll, l, a, h, hh, ho),
           ('Low Outlier', 'LoLo', 'Lo', 'Average', 'Hi', 'HiHi', 'High Outlier'),
           scatterpoints=1,
           loc='lower left',
           ncol=3,
           fontsize=8)

plt.show()

3D scatter plot

To plot a scatter in 3D, use the plot method, as the legend does not support Patch3DCollection as is returned by the scatter method of an Axes3D instance. To specify the markerstyle you can include this as a positional argument in the method call, as seen in the example below. Optionally one can include argument to both the linestyle and marker parameters.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from numpy.random import random
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D

colors=['b', 'c', 'y', 'm', 'r']

ax = plt.subplot(111, projection='3d')

ax.plot(random(10), random(10), random(10), 'x', color=colors[0], label='Low Outlier')
ax.plot(random(10), random(10), random(10), 'o', color=colors[0], label='LoLo')
ax.plot(random(10), random(10), random(10), 'o', color=colors[1], label='Lo')
ax.plot(random(10), random(10), random(10), 'o', color=colors[2], label='Average')
ax.plot(random(10), random(10), random(10), 'o', color=colors[3], label='Hi')
ax.plot(random(10), random(10), random(10), 'o', color=colors[4], label='HiHi')
ax.plot(random(10), random(10), random(10), 'x', color=colors[4], label='High Outlier')

plt.legend(loc='upper left', numpoints=1, ncol=3, fontsize=8, bbox_to_anchor=(0, 0))

plt.show()

if you are using matplotlib version 3.1.1 or above, you can try:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.colors import ListedColormap

x = [1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9]
y = [0, 0, 5, 8, 8, 8]
classes = ['A', 'B', 'C']
values = [0, 0, 1, 2, 2, 2]
colors = ListedColormap(['r','b','g'])
scatter = plt.scatter(x, y, c=values, cmap=colors)
plt.legend(handles=scatter.legend_elements()[0], labels=classes)

Other answers seem a bit complex, you can just add a parameter 'label' in scatter function and that will be the legend for your plot.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from numpy.random import random

colors = ['b', 'c', 'y', 'm', 'r']

lo = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='x', color=colors[0],label='Low Outlier')
ll = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='o', color=colors[0],label='LoLo')
l  = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='o', color=colors[1],label='Lo')
a  = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='o', color=colors[2],label='Average')
h  = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='o', color=colors[3],label='Hi')
hh = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='o', color=colors[4],label='HiHi')
ho = plt.scatter(random(10), random(10), marker='x', color=colors[4],label='High Outlier')

plt.legend(loc='upper center', bbox_to_anchor=(0.5, -0.05),
          fancybox=True, shadow=True, ncol=4)

plt.show()

This is your output: